第78章

Old Hiokatoo, in the thick of battle now, presented his most terrifying aspect.He was naked save the waist cloth, his great body was covered with scars, and, as he bent a little forward, he held cocked and ready in his hands a fine rifle that had been presented to him by his good friend, the king.The Senecas, it may be repeated, had suffered terribly at the Battle of the Oriskany in the preceding year, and throughout these years of border were the most cruel of all the Iroquois.In this respect Hiokatoo led all the Senecas, and now Braxton Wyatt used as he was to savage scenes, was compelled to admit to himself that this was the most terrifying human being whom he had ever beheld.He was old, but age in him seemed merely to add to his strength and ferocity.The path of a deep cut, healed long since, but which the paint even did not hide, lay across his forehead.Others almost as deep adorned his right cheek, his chin, and his neck.

He was crouched much like a panther, with his rifle in his hands and the ready tomahawk at his belt.But it was the extraordinary expression of his eyes that made Braxton Wyatt shudder.He read there no mercy for anything, not even for himself, Braxton Wyatt, if he should stand in the way, and it was this last fact that brought the shudder.

Hiokatoo thought it a good plan.Twenty warriors, mostly Senecas and Cayugas, were detailed to execute it at once, and they stole off toward the right.Henry had suspected some such diversion, and, as he had been joined now by the four men from the other side of the creek, he disposed his little force to meet it.Both Shif'less Sol and Heemskerk had caught sight of figures slipping away among the trees, and Henry craftily drew back a little.

While two or three men maintained the sharpshooting in the front, he waited for the attack.It came in half an hour, the flanking force making a savage and open rush, but the fire of the white riflemen was so swift and deadly that they were driven back again.But they had come very near, and a Tory rushed directly at young Taylor.The Tory, like Taylor, had come from Wyoming, and he had been one of the most ruthless on that terrible day.

When they were less than a dozen feet apart they recognized each other.Henry saw the look that passed between them, and, although he held a loaded rifle in his hand, for some reason he did not use it.The Tory fired a pistol at Taylor, but the bullet missed, and the Wyoming youth, leaping forth, swung his unloaded rifle and brought the stock down with all his force upon the head of his enemy.The man, uttering a single sound, a sort of gasp, fell dead, and Taylor stood over him, still trembling with rage.In an instant Henry seized him and dragged him down, and then a Seneca bullet whistled where he had been.

"He was one of the worst at Wyoming-I saw him!" exclaimed young Taylor, still trembling all over with passion.

"He'll never massacre anybody else.You've seen to that," said Henry, and in a minute or two Taylor was quiet.The sharpshooting continued, but here as elsewhere, the Iroquois had the worst of it.Despite their numbers, they could not pass nor flank that line of deadly marksmen who lay behind trees almost in security, and who never missed.Another Tory and a chief, also, were killed, and Braxton Wyatt was daunted.Nor did he feel any better when old Hiokatoo crept to his side.